longed to that period of this century when the religious
world first threw off its contempt for the present earthly life and
began to preach, not a salvation from sin's punishment so much as a
salvation from sin.

It was the old cry: "Repent, believe; for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand." The doctrine that was set forth had not only the vital growth of
ages in it, but it had accreted the misunderstanding of the ages also;
yet this doctrine did not hide, it only limited, the saving power of
God. "Believe," cried the preacher, "in a just God and a Saviour." So he
preached Christ unto them, just as he supposed St. Paul to have done,
wotting nothing of the fact that every word and every symbol stand for
a different thought in the minds of men with every revolution of that
glass by which Time marks centuries.

It mattered nothing to Bart just now all this about the centuries and
the doctrines; the heart of the preaching was the eternal truth that has
been growing brighter and brighter since the world began--God, a living
Power, the Power of Salvation. The salvation was conditioned, truly; but
what did conditions matter to Bart! He would have cast himself into sea
or fire to obtain the strength that he coveted. He eagerly cast aside
the unbelief he had imbibed from books. He accepted all that he was told
to accept, with the eager swallowing of a man who is dying for the
strength of a drug that is given to him in dilution.

At the end of the sermon there was a great call made upon all who
desired to give up their sins and to walk in God's strength and
righteousness, to go forward and kneel in token of their penitence and
pray for the grace which they would assuredly receive.

This public penance was a very little thing, like the dipping in Jordan.
It did not seem little to Toyner. He was thoroughly awake now, roused
for the hour to the power of seeking God with all his mind, all his
thought, all his soul. The high tide of life in him made the ordeal
terrible; he tottered forward and knelt where, in front of the rostrum,
sweet hay had been strewn upon the ground. A hundred penitents were
kneeling upon this carpet.

There was now no more loud talking or singing. Silence was allowed to
spread her wings within the woodland temple. Toyner, kneeling, felt the
influence of other human spirits deeply vivified in the intensity of
prayer. He heard whispered cries and the sound of tears, the prayer of
the publican, the tears of the